Fantasy Outlook: Jaelen Strong, Houston Texans
It’s a passing league. We’ve heard it a thousand times. Running backs hate it, old school coaches who design smash-mouth football sets hate it. And lastly, conservative drafters in fantasy leagues hate it.
We’ve all hated on the guy in our league who’s the first one to pick up a receiver early in the first round, neglecting to go the route of the all-powerful running back. And yet, wideouts are becoming more and more influential each year, as time goes by.
Now, they are always scarier than running backs in the sense that they have to rely on their quarterback a lot more and share the ball with other receivers on their team every matchup.
Texans rookie receiver Jaelen Strong has had an impressive collegiate career. He posses the size and speed that NFL receivers covet, that allows him to exploit seams over the middle. He’s displayed toughness in every game of the last two seasons, missing only one due to suffering a concussion in the previous week.
So then, why not pick this guy up in your fantasy league? He lacks skilled separation on his routes (which can be taught) and he suffered a broken wrist last season without telling anyone until his medical records became public just before the NFL Draft this year. That’s why.
But please, leave him on the board in the third round of the draft this year for me, if you’re in my league, that is. I’ll take this guy all day. It’s my chance to savor the moment for whenever either quarterback in Houston emerges from the bloody dual this year and has to rely on DeAndre Hopkins and literally whoever else shows potential in the receiver corpse.
After losing Andre Johnson, Hopkins looks pretty lonely on the roster sheet as far as dominant threats go. Strong appears to be the only other breakout hope unless you know something about Keith Mumphery that we don’t. (Please tell me, I so badly want to win my league this year after coming so close in 2014.)
But there it is, my take comes down to picking up Strong as early in the draft as third or fourth round, depending on how many Houston fans you have in your league.
Good luck and please give me a shout out if this advice really pays off, come December this year. I’ll look forward to adding your success to my ESPN resume.